Material treating apparatus

ABSTRACT

APPARATUS INCLUDES A CARRIAGE FOR SUPPORTING A PLURALITY OF PASSES OF MATERIAL, THE LENGTH OF WHICH IS AUTOMATICALLY VARIED DURING MOVEMENT OF THE CARRIAGE INTO AN OUT OF A TREATING CHAMBER IN RESPONSE TO CHANGERS IN LINE PEED TO MAINTAIN A SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT EXPOSURE TIME OF THE MATERIAL TO THE TREATING PROCESS. DESPITE CHANGES IN THE EFFECTIVE LENGTH OF THE MATERIAL PASSES WITHIN THE TREATING CHAMBER, THE AMOUNT OF MATERIAL SUPPORTED BY THE CARRIAGE REMAINS CONSTANT SO THAT THE TENSION OF THE MATERIAL REMAINS SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME, AND THE MATERIAL IS COUNTERBALANCE ON THE CARRIAGE WHEREBY VERY LITTLE FORCE IS REQUIRED TO MOVE THE CARRIAGE. AN ADDITIONAL CHAMBER ADJACENT THE TREATING CHAMBER ACCOMMODATES THE CARRIAGE PORTION OUTSIDE THE TREATING CHAMBER TO PROVIDE CONDITIONS FOR SECONDARY TREATMENT OR COOLING OF THE MATERIAL.

June 15, 1971 A.V.ALEXEFF MATERIAL TREAT I NG APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 13, 1969 INVISNTOR B 0% M W75 June 15, 1971 v ALEXEFF MATERIAL TREATING APPARATUS Filed NOV. 13, 1969 2 SheetsSheet 2 km. ti;

l 5 l 1 5e f L INVIEN'IOR ALEXANDER V. ALEXEFF ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,584,392 MATERIAL TREATING APPARATUS Alexander V. Alexelf, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to Alexeff-Snyder Enterprises, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio Filed Nov. 13, 1969, Ser. No. 876,474 Int. Cl. F26h 13/10 US. Cl. 34-56 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus includes a carriage for supporting a plurality of passes of material, the length of which is automatically varied during movement of the carriage into and out of a treating chamber in response to changes in line speed to maintain a substantially constant exposure time of the material to the treating process. Despite changes in the effective length of the material passes within the treating chamber, the amount of material supported by the carriage remains constant so that the tension on the material remains substantially the same, and the material is counterbalanced on the carriage whereby very little force is required to move the carriage. An additional chamber adjacent the treating chamber accommodates the carriage portion outside the treating chamber to provide conditions for secondary treatment or cooling of the material.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally as indicated to a material treating apparatus of a relative simple and compact construction which readily permits variations in the amount of material exposed to treatment inside a treating chamber to suit line speed of the material.

In the continuous or semi-continuous processing of strip or strand-like material of metal, plastic, paper, or textile, the material is oftentimes caused to pass through one or more material-treating stations, and it may be essential or at least desirable that the exposure time and temperature of the material within the treating chamber remain substantially constant over the entire length of the material despite variations in the line speed. Such variations may be compensated for as by changing the length of path of travel of the material within the chamber or by changing the oven temperature or both. However, as a practical matter, it is prohibitively expensive to provide the highly responsive temperature controls that would be required to vary oven temperature at a rate sufiicient to maintain a uniform temperature of the material, particularly where rapid fluctuations in line speed may occur.

The most practical solution to the problem has been to provide movable dancer rolls about which the material is wrapped, whereby movement of the dancer roll into and out of the treating chamber effectively changes the length of material exposed to the treating process. However, with such a construction, the amount of material SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION With the foregoing in mind, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a more simple, compact apparatus which permits substantial variations in the amount of material exposed to treatment within a treating cham- 3,584,392 Patented June 15, 1971 ber to accommodate for wide variations in line speed or temperature within the treating chamber.

A further object is to provide such an apparatus which accommodates the same length of material at all times for maintaining substantially uniform tension on the material while subjecting different amounts of the material to treatment to maintain the exposure time substantially constant regardless of line speed.

Still another object is to provide such an apparatus for supporting two or more passes of the material for movement into a treating chamber in such a manner that the length of the passes may be varied to vary the amount of material exposed to the treating process at any one time.

These and other objects of the present invention may be achieved by providing such apparatus with a carriage mounted for movement into and out of the treating chamber. On the carriage are supported a plurality of passes of material for movement into and out of the treating chamber with the carriage. With such an arrangement, the amount of material supported by the carriage remains constant and yet the length of the passes exposed to the treating process is increased and decreased during movement of the carriage into and out of the treating chamber as aforesaid, and very little force is required to move the carriage because of the manner in which the material is counterbalanced thereon. The position of the carriage within the treating chamber may also be varied automatically in proportion to line speed or temperature of the exiting material, and the material passes may be moved completely out of the treating chamber when the processing line is stopped. An additional chamber may also be provided adjacent the treating chamber for accommodating the carriage portion outside the treating chamber to provide conditions for secondary treatment or cooling of the material.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawing setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but several of the various Ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the annexed drawing:

FIG. 1 is a horizontal section through a preferred form of material treating apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention, taken on the plane of line 1-1 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through the apparatus of FIG. 1, taken on the plane of the line 22 thereof;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse section through the material carriage and treating chamber of FIG. 2, taken on the plane of the line 33; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are schematic longitudinal sections through modified forms of material treating apparatus in accordance with this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now in detail to the drawing, a preferred form of material treating apparatus in accordance with this invention is generally indicated by the reference numerial 1 and comprises two main parts; a treating chamber 2 and a carriage 3 mounted for movement into and out of the entry end 4 of the treating chamber 2. The carriage 3 may be supported by wheels 5 engaging guide rails 6 for guiding the carriage 3 during such movement into and out of the treating chamber, or cam followers or other suitable rolling or sliding arrangements may be provided for that purpose.

The carriage 3 desirably consists of a plurality of pairs of vertically spaced parallel support members 8 supported at opposite ends by vertical frame members 9 thus providing clearance spaces 10 between adjacent pairs of support members 8 for hot air ducts 11, for a purpose to be subsequently explained. Additional air ducts may also be provided above and below the carriage. Extending between the support members 8 of each pair are a plurality of guide rolls 12 having shafts 13 journaled in the respective support members 8 by suitable anti-friction bearings 14 (see particularly FIG. 3). One guide roll 12 is located adjacent each end of the pairs of support members 8, and additional guide rolls 12 may also be provided intermediate the ends as required to provide proper support for the material M to be treated.

Adjacent the entry end 4 of the treating chamber 2 are two sets of material guides 15 and 16, each consisting of one or more guide rolls 17 extending between adjacent pairs of support members 8 and having their ends journaled in fixed roll support stands 18 located on opposite sides of the carriage 3. Two additional guide rolls 19 and 20 may be journaled on the support stands 18 below the carriage 3 as shown.

The material M is first wrapped around the entry guide roll 19 and then back and forth between the guide rolls 12 at the inner end 21 of the carriage 13 and first set of fixed guide rolls 15 as shown to provide a plurality of passes 22 of the material for movement into and out of the treating chamber 2 with the carriage 3. From the last or uppermost guide roll 12 at the inner end of the carriage 3 the material extends to the outer end 24 of the carriage 3 where it is further wrapped back and forth between the guide rolls 12 at the outer end of the carriage and the second set of fixed material guides 16 to provide additional passes 25 of the material outwardly of the passes 22. From the lowermost guide roll 12 at the outer end of the carriage 3 the material is wrapped about the other fixed guide roll 20, which is the exit guide roll.

With such an arrangement, the amount of material supported by the carriage 3 is always constant regardless of the position of the carriage with respect to the entry and exit rolls 19 and 20, whereby the tension on the material will remain substantially constant except for the slight tension or stretch which may be caused due to variations in the average material temperature. However, the length of each pass 22 of material extending into the treating chamber varies in proportion to the extent of movement of the carriage 3 into and out of the treating chamber. As will be apparent, as the carriage 3 moves further into the treating chamber, the path of movement of each pass 22 within the chamber increases and the path of movement of each pass 25 outside the chamber correspondingly decreases. Movement of the carriage 3 out of the treating chamber has the reverse effect, i.e., the length of each pass 22 decreases and the length of each pass 25 increases. Moreover, because of the manner in which the material is wrapped about the carriage 3, the material is completely counterbalanced, whereby a very small amount of force is required to move the carriage along the guide rails 6, only that which is necessary to overcome the friction of the wheels or other guide means.

When the carriage 3 is extended into the treating chamber 2 as shown in FIG. 2, the material M exposed to treatment therein always remains inside the treating chamber except for the short length between each pass 22 where the material extends around the first set of material guides 15, which are desirably located approximately 12 to 15 inches from the entry end 4 of the treating chamber. Such first set of material guides 15 may be positioned within the treating chamber itself, if desired, in which event the material of the passes 22 would not leave the treating chamber until the last pass. However, then it would not be possible to move the material passes 22 completely out 4 of the treating chamber 2 when the processing line is completely stopped, which is ordinarily desirable so that no material is exposed to the treating process during down time.

The position of the carriage 3 within the treating chamber 2 may be based on desired exposure time of the material to the treating process or on the speed of the processing line itself. Thus, for example, if the processing line is running only at one-half of the normal speed, the carriage 3 will be located approximately one-half of the Way into the treating chamber so that only about onehalf of the material passes 22 is exposed to the treating process, and so on. Once the exposure time is determined, it may readily be maintained regardless of the line speed simply by varying automatically or otherwise the extent to which the carriage 3 projects into and out of the treating chamber.

T 0 control the tension of the material M, two pull roll stands 30 and 31 are provided. The stand 30 is for feeding the material to the apparatus 1 and the stand 31 is for pulling the material out at a given speed. By increasing or decreasing the speed of the pull roll stands 30 and 31, a given tension or stretch of the material may be maintained.

1f the processing line is moving at a constant speed, and the temperature and tension of the material are also maintained constant, the carriage 3 will remain stationary and the time of exposure of the material will remain the same. However, when the line speed is varied or the temperature in the treating chamber is increased or decreased, the tension or stretch in the material between the two pull roll stands 30 and 31 will also change, thus necessitating a slight correction in stretch, tension, or temperature. For that purpose, there is shown a temperature sensing device 33 located adjacent where the last pass 22 exits from the treating chamber, which may be a sliding type thermocouple coil or pyrometer temperature sensing device for determining the exact temperature of the material coming out of the treating chamber. The temperature reading may be used to adjust one of the abovementioned characteristics; i.e., tension, stretch, or temperature. However, the actual variation in such characteristics is usually quite small and needs very little correc' tion.

For uniform heating of the material M within the treating chamber 2, the treating chamber is well insulated, and the entry end 4 of the treating chamber into which the carriage 3 extends has a plurality of openings 35 therein of a size only slightly larger than the support members 8 to permit freedom of movement of the support members therethrough. Moreover, the air supply ducts 11 run substantially the full length of the material passes 22 when the carriage 3 is located in the treating chamber 2 to the maximum extent. A series of holes 36 are provided in both the top 37 and bottom 38 of each intermediate duct 11 as shown in FIG. 3, and the top and bottom ducts have similar holes in one side for directing hot air onto each of the material passes 22 over the entire length thereof.

Surrounding the air supply ducts 11 are return air ducts 39 which provide for effective circulation of the air within the treating chamber. Contained within the return air ducts 39 are the burners 40 for heating the return air which is then recirculated through the air supply ducts 11 by a circulating fan 41 located at the far end of the treating chamber. Preferably, the supply air is always under positive pressure and the return air is under negative pressure, so that the contaminated return air will not escape from the treating chamber. Only a controlled amount of air is removed by exhaust ducts, not shown.

The portion of the carriage 3 extending outwardly of the treating chamber 2 which supports the return or storage passes 25 of the material may be exposed directly to the atmosphere if desired, but it is preferred that a secondary chamber 45 enclose the same to provide conditions for secondary treatment or cooling of the treated material M after leaving the treating chamber. In that event, a single opening 46 may be provided in the secondary chamber 45 adjacent the fixed guide rolls 19 and 20 for entry and exit of the material from the apparatus.

In less sophisticated treating lines where it is not so important that the material continuously remain inside the treating chamber during the entire treating operation, the plural passes 50 of material M supported by the movable carriage for movement into and out of the treating chamber 52 may extend from one end of the carriage to the other as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Accordingly, under normal operating conditions when the carriage is extending only part way into the treating chamber, only a portion of each material pass will be contained within the treating chamber; the remainder of each pass will be outside the treating chamber but may be confined within the secondary chamber 53. Of course, the portion of each pass contained within the treating chamber 52 will depend upon the extent to which the carriage is moved into the treating chamber. When the carriage is moved substantially completely into the treating chamber 52, substantially the entire length of the material passes 50 may be contained within the treating chamber, whereas when the carriage is moved substantially completely out of the treating chamber, the entire length of such material passes may be located outside of the treating chamber, which is especially desirable whenever the line is shut down.

In FIG. 4, the carriage is generally indicated by the numeral 55 and is shown as having a pair of vertically spaced guide rolls 56 supported adjacent the outer end of the carriage 55 between a pair of vertically spaced guide rolls 57 supported adjacent the inner end of such carriage, whereas in FIG. 5, the guide rolls 56' and 57' adjacent opposite, ends of the carriage 55 are alternately vertically spaced from each other. The guide roll arrangement of the FIG. 4 embodiment provides a balanced condition between the forces applied to the carriage by the strip material wrapped thereabout, whereas the forces acting on the carriage 55' of FIG. create a somewhat unbalanced condition. However, the FIG. 4 material treating apparatus 60 requires a stationary guide roll 61 between each pair of vertically spaced guide rolls 56 adjacent the entry end 57 of the treating chamber 52, which is not required in the material treating apparatus 60 of the FIG. 5 embodiment.

The material treating apparatus 60 and 60 of FIGS. 4 and 5 have the additional advantage over the material treating apparatus 1 of the FIGS. 1-3 that the entry and exit guide rolls 62, 62 and 63, 63' for the web material may be located on opposite sides of the apparatus to permit entry of the material into the apparatus from one side thereof and exit of the material from the opposite side for direct movement to another material treating apparatus in the processing line. As shown in FIG. 4, the incoming material is first wrapped around the entry guide roll 62, then around the first guide roll 57 at the inner end of the carriage 55, next around the first guide roll 56 at the outer end of the carriage, then around the stationary guide roll 61 between the guide rolls 56 and other guide roll 56, and back to the other guide roll 57 at the inner end of the carriage, and so on. From the last guide roll 57 the material proceeds to the exit guide roll 63 and is wrapped thereabout for exit from the apparatus.

In FIG. 5, the material also enters the material treating apparatus '60 around the entry guide roll 62, and then extends back and forth between the guide rolls 57 and 56' at opposite ends of the carriage 55' to the last guide roll 56' adjacent the outer end of the carriage 55', from which the material extends to the exit guide roll 63' for exit from the apparatus. While only one pair of guide rolls 56, 56' and 57, 57' are shown at each end of the carriages 55 and 55 of the FIGS. 4 and 5 embodiments, it will be apparent that any number of pairs may be provided depending upon the desired number of passes of material to be treated.

A typical treating operation in which each pass of the material to be treated need not be contained completely within the treating chamber might be one in which the portion of each material pass contained within the treating chamber is being progressively heated, and the temperature of the portion of each material pass outside the treating chamber is being held constant within the secondary chamber between passes.

From the foregoing, it can now be seen that the various carriages of the present invention which support the material for movement into and out of the treating chamher have a constant length of material thereon and yet the amount of material exposed to the treating process may be varied by moving the carriages into and out of the treating chamber without varying the tension of the ma terial. The carriages have plural passes of material which are moved into and out of the treating chamber to suit line speed, and the treating chamber is designed to provide uniform heating of the material within the treating chamber.

I, therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. Material treating apparatus comprising a treating chamber, a carriage mounted for movement with respect to said treating chamber to increase and decrease the extent to which said carriage extends into said treating chamber, and material guide means providing plural material passes on said carriage of a constant total length but which increase and decrease in length inside and outside the treating chamber in proportion to the extent of movement of the carriage into and out of the treating chamber.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said carriage comprises a plurality of pairs of spaced apart support members, and said material guide means include plural guide rolls supported on shafts having opposite ends journaled in said pairs of support members.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said treating chamber includes hot air ducts extending between adjacent pairs of said support members, said hot air ducts having holes along the length thereof for directing hot air against the material passes within the treating chamber.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 further comprising return air ducts surrounding said air supply ducts, heating means in said return air ducts for heating the return air, and fan means in said treating chamber for drawing the heated air in said return air ducts and forcing such heated air back through the hot air ducts.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said material guide means includes fixed roll support stands adjacent the entry end of said treating chamber on opposite sides of said carriage, and guide rolls extending between said fixed roll support stands, said guide rolls extending between adjacent pairs of said support members.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a pair of pull roll stands adjacent said entry end of said treating chamber for respectively feeding the material to one end of said carriage and pulling the material from the other end of said carriage, and temperature sensing means for measuring the temperature of the material exiting from the treating chamber and correcting the speed of said pull roll stands for adjusting the tension and slack in the material.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a secondary chamber for receipt of the portion of said car riage projecting from said treating chamber to provide conditions for secondary treatment of the material leaving the treating chamber.

8. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the entry end of said treating chamber has a plurality of openings therein for passage of said pairs of spaced apart support members therethrough.

9. The apparatus of claim 2 further comprising additional guide rolls along said pairs of support members for providing additional support for the material passes 7 during movement of said carriage into and out of said treating chamber. i

10. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising guide rails extending from said secondary chamber to said treating chamber, and wheels on said carriage engaging said guide rails for guiding the movement of said carriage between said secondary and treating chambers.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein there are plural guide means on opposite ends of said carriage which cooperate With fixed material guide means adjacent the entry end of 'said treating chamber to provide plural material passes at opposite ends of said carriage of a constant total length but of oppositely increasing and decreasing length inside and outside the treating chamber in proportion to the extent of movement of the carriage into and out of the treating chamber.

a a 's 12. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising fixed entry and exit guide rolls for the material adjacent 0pposite sides of the apparatus.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/19'29 Judelson 34-l63 2/1968 Jacobsen 34159 CAR-ROLL B. DORITY, 1a., Primary Examiner 

